Thanks to all who helped make this happen. Please realize this isn't a done deal, we still need to put pressure on Senator Grassley to get him to help support the Durbin amendment. Eric Uram Regional Representative Sierra Club Midwest Office =========================================================== From Inside EPA: Tuesday, December 09, 2003 Click here for the InsideEPA.com Main Page ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Senate Measure Barring 'Senior Discount' Marks Defeat For OMB's Graham Senate passage of an amendment preventing EPA from using a controversial benefits analysis method that places a lower value on senior citizens' lives marks the first time Congress has publicly rejected contentious regulatory reforms advocated by White House regulatory chief John Graham, EPA and other sources say. Environmentalists are applauding the vote as a victory for senior citizens and public health protections but the amendment, which the House approved last July, is drawing a mixed reaction from agency economists because some EPA economists say Congress should stay away from technical debates best addressed through research and peer review. However, final congressional approval of the measure, as well as the rest of EPA's fiscal year 2004 funding, is in doubt as a key Democratic senator last week vowed to block a Republican plan to approve remaining FY04 appropriations bills -- that have been compiled into a single omnibus bill -- without a recorded vote. Sen. Robert Byrd (WV), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, objectst to a plan by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to quickly approve an omnibus appropriations bill -- that includes funding for EPA and a host of other federal agencies -- by unanimous consent this week. Byrd said in a statement that the conference report on the omnibus bill includes changes insisted on by the Bush administration to measures already approved by Congress. "Instead of sending thirteen fiscally responsible appropriations bills to the president, we are being force-fed a bad piece of legislation dictated to the Congress by the Bush administration. That is no way to govern. That is no way to serve the American people," Byrd said in a statement. Included in the VA-HUD portion of the omnibus bill is an amendment offered by Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) preventing the agency from using lower values for seniors' lives in regulatory analysis. The measure passed by voice vote Nov. 17. The amendment prohibits the agency from spending money on any benefits analysis that includes "monetary values for adult premature mortality that differ based on the age of the adult." The amendments were drafted last summer in response to an alternative EPA analysis to provide a second set of benefits estimates for the Bush administration's proposed Clear Skies legislation and several high-profile rules that "discounted" the value of seniors by 37 percent. Environmentalists and seniors' groups like the AARP criticized White House regulatory chief John Graham, who supported the discounts, claiming he pressured the agency to use the so-called senior death discount. These groups say that using lower values for seniors results in lower benefits estimates for strict regulatory standards and allows opponents of strict EPA rules to argue they are too expensive. Since the controversy, Bush administration officials have emphasized that they will not use the senior discount for "decisional" purposes, but only for analytic purposes. An OMB spokesperson says that the rider will not have a significant impact on OMB's practice. "Although OMB has concerns about efforts to legislate analytic practice, the House and Senate riders appear to do nothing more than reiterate what OMB has already adopted as analytic guidance for regulatory analysis at federal agencies." Nevertheless, environmentalists say the amendment represents one of the first times they have successfully fought one of Graham's proposals to change regulatory cost-benefit analysis. "Before the 37 percent senior death discount, it was hard to make a bumper sticker about what Graham is doing," according to one environmentalist. But some EPA economists believe Congress should not make policy determinations about technical issues related to cost-benefit analysis. One regulatory specialist says, "The environmentalists have painted this as a good-versus-evil issue but it's a technical matter. The consensus on the economic literature is that there is no basis for a senior discount and the genesis of what we do is the literature." This source adds that the issue has "fixed itself. It's a non-problem." However, other EPA economic experts are applauding the Senate vote. "Now Graham will have to back off. Sure, there are other, more indirect ways OMB will be able to deflate benefits estimates, but they will no longer be able to directly discount seniors in proposed rules," according to this source. "This will prevent the White House from playing a shell-game with age when EPA is justifying protections," according to another EPA official. Industry sources also say Congress should not intervene in technical debates that economists should resolve. "Congress should be careful not to tread into technical areas well beyond its expertise," one source says. But one environmentalist says framing the debate in technocratic terms ignores the political devaluation of "some of our most valuable citizens. This is a clear signal to the White House. Everyone deserves equal treatment." Date: December 9, 2003 C Inside Washington Publishers - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp